In a 3rd-year design studio a year and a half ago we took on a design build project in a little town called Okolona: a downtown park. We designed a trellis, a retaining wall, some benches and a stage. For a number of reasons that grew out of our getting to know the town, we decided that all of the construction needed to be robust and direct. It needed to be capable of taking a beating and not require high maintenance. Yet it also wanted to have a quiet spririted quality. For the studio, we adopted a theme of finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.